According to court documents, the scheme involved the dispatching of homeless people to purchase up to five smartphones at subsidized prices from wireless dealers as part of a contract for cellphone service.

The straw buyers were paid a nominal fee for turning the phones over to Shou and Yuting. The two men allegedly consolidated the Sacramento phones with other Apple iPhones, Samsung Galaxies and Blackberries sent from other states and shipped them to Asia, where they were sold for as much as $2,000 a piece.

The alleged fraud netted close to $4 million over a recent eight-month period, the attorney general's office said.

"This international theft ring used fraud and deceit to steal smart phones and exploit the homeless," Harris said in a statement.